The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners have raised further concerns about continued violence against journalists covering protests and demonstrations across European Union (EU) Member States and Candidates in 2020. The group calls for increased protection, police training and oversight, as well as broader respect for media freedom. In the first six months of the year, MFRR partners have documented over 31 separate cases of attacks and media freedom violations against at least 41 different journalists and media workers reporting from protests and demonstrations in 11 EU Member States and Candidate Countries. The figures, documented…

Croatian Prime minister Andrej Plenkovic accused journalists’ union leader Maja Sever of collaborating with his political opponent ahead of a pre-election TV debate. The European and International of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) have strongly condemned the accusations. PM Plenkovic insinuated that Sever had worked with the opposition to “prepare” his political rival, during a pre-election TV debate on 29 June on private RTL channel – which showcased the two main candidates for Prime Minister, Plenkovic for the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Davor Bernardic for the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Sever is a long-time journalist working for the Croatian public broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) and the President of the Trade Union…

A Turkish court has requested on 9 March the extradition of a Turkish journalist who is living in exile in Sweden for allegedly insulting two officers of the court in 2018. The news of the request to extradite Levent Kenez from Sweden was reported by nordicmonitor.com on 28 June. European and International Federations of journalists (EFJ/IFJ) join the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJ) in calling on Swedish authorities to deny the extradition request. Levent Kenez is accused of defaming a prosecutor and a judge in an article published on the Turkish-language news website TR724 on 17 February 2018, following the court’s decision…

Aktuakity journalist Peter Sabo found a bullet in his mailbox on 25 June, said today the news website editor-in-chief Peter Bárdy. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) strongly condemn the death threat and urge the authorities to swiftly identify those responsible and protect Peter Sabo. “I would very much like to believe that it was a joke of a child, but after the experience of more than two years ago, I know that if it is not a joke, it can kill”, Bárdy wrote in an editorial. “If they think they will intimidate us, they are wrong.” The case comes…

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, journalist bodies, free expression and journalist support organisations are concerned about the legal threats made against EUobserver in Luxembourg and Belgium and call to stop the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) actions across Europe. Left unreformed, such legal threats will be sufficient to silence media workers and outlets. We stand in solidarity with EUobserver and will continue to monitor developments around the case. In 2019, EUobserver published an article in the English language investigating the actions of a British PR firm, Chelgate, on behalf of the Maltese state. According to the…

Over 200 people, including 14 journalists, were arrested on June 21 during peaceful demonstrations against the arrest of presidential nominee Viktar Babaryka. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) join their affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) in condemning the arrests and urge the authorities to stop harassing journalists for doing their job. According to the BAJ, at least 14 journalists were arrested while covering the protests despite wearing badges and press vests to be recognized as media workers. Despite this, the BAJ claimed that journalists were attacked by the police, even while live streaming. Some of them were beaten by the police. These attacks, as reported…

Independent news website Index.hu has told its readers that the site’s staff and the whole newsroom were in danger due to “external pressures”. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) stand in solidarity with Index.hu workers and urges the Hungarian authorities to guarantee the freedom of information and media plurality in the country. Editor-in-chief of Index.hu, one of the few surviving independent news websites in Hungary, Szabolcs Dull, released a statement on 21 June warning that the website’s freedom was being jeopardised by an “organisational overhaul”. “We are concerned that with the proposed organisational overhaul, we will lose those values that made Index.hu the biggest and most-read news site…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was invited today to introduce the working session on freedom of the media at the OSCE 2nd Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM). The EFJ called on the OSCE Participating States to fully implement the 2018 Ministerial Council Decision for the safety of journalists. “Hundreds of media outlets are under threat, starting with local media, which are simply in danger of disappearing for lack of financial support. Tens of thousands of journalists have been put on temporary unemployment. And tens of thousands of independent journalists have been deprived of any income for the past three…

The Stars4Media Pilot Project is supporting innovation in the media sector, through training and cross border cooperation. For its first edition, Stars4Media will support 22 innovative partnerships, bridging 100 media professionals from 17 countries. Out of all beneficiaries, 47% are women, 30% work as journalists, while the rest come from other professional backgrounds such as content marketing, social media management, editing, engineering,  and business. 18% of the total participants are freelancers.  The last call for initiatives, with deadline 20/05/20, was a success! Overall, 41 proposals have been evaluated and 22, the best and most promising, have been selected.  More information…

The Centre for Law and Democracy has released an executive summary of the report on the Right to Information during Health Emergencies in English, French and Spanish. Below is a summary of (potential) changes to access to information and right to information law in Council of Europe Member States. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has urged governments during the pandemic to ensure full transparency about the pandemic and to guarantee the capacity of journalists to act in the public interest, without any limitation. In view of the changing situation it is now time to lift any restrictions which may…

Download the letter The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) co-signed a letter to the German authorities ahead of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, to start on 1 July. The signatories call for particular attention to be paid to issues of freedom of the press and media. The letter reads: “The German Presidency of the Council of the European Union begins at a difficult time, in which concerted efforts from across the social, economical and political spectrum are required. European values and cohesion are under strain. The COVID-19 pandemic poses major challenges to the EU and the wider…

As EU Member States start discussing the proposed EU recovery plan, the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ), along with 92 other European and international organisations in the cultural and creative sectors are calling for stronger measures to help the sectors recover. This call comes a month after the IFJ launched – with the support of Global Unions Federations – a Global Platform for Quality Journalism  to demand urgent measures to support the press sector and media professionals. Here is our joint statement: As the EU has started discussing the proposed recovery plan, 94 organisations from across Europe’s cultural and creative sectors are uniting their…

On 16 June, the European Federation of Journalists joined a coalition of civil rights organisations in sending a letter to the European Commission highlighting the need for a regulatory framework including transparency and accountability obligations on content-hosting platforms in the framework of the European Commission’s “Shaping Europe’s Digital Future” and the upcoming public consultation on the Digital Services Act.   Dear Commissioner Breton, Vice President Jourova CC: Commissioner Reynders  We are writing as representatives of organisations that share your goals of an open, democratic and sustainable society. We also share your excitement at the opportunity this  Driven by this shared…

Today, the British based Reuters Institute in cooperation with Oxford University published its 6th annual Digital News Report 2020. The findings, which are based on surveys before and during the COVID-19 pandemic provide some interesting long-term insights into the future of news business, in particular at local level; it analyses changing news consumption, the crucial issue of trust; level of mis- and disinformation, changing business models and the growth of paid content and new attitudes to media coverage including on climate change. The crisis is likely to accelerate long-term structural changes towards more digital, more mobile, more platform-dominated media environment”…

A special aid package to protect journalists wages and support struggling media is to be introduced in North Macedonia thanks to the efforts of the union representing the country’s media workers. The North Macedonian government accepted wide ranging proposals put forward by the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) to help journalists and media cope with the harsh conditions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have congratulated their affiliate, the SSNM, in negotiating the plan. Applicable to June, July and August, the plan will provide subsidies…

The undersigned members of the Sounding Board (“SB”) of the Multistakeholder Forum on disinformation online (representatives from media, civil society, journalists – including the European Federation of Journalists -, and academia) thank the European Commission for highlighting the crucial role of free and independent media, journalists and academia in the fight against online disinformation during the Covid-19 crisis. The undersigned are alarmed by the rise in online disinformation during the pandemic and call for much stronger measures to apply to the Platforms that are co-signatories of the Code of Practice (CoP). The Sounding Board notably calls for more ambitious proposals…